Manhunt forces halt to gunfire during Sudbury militia march

A week that's been anything but typical ended in atypical fashion for the Sudbury militia, whose annual march to Concord early Friday morning was affected by the nearby manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect.

A week that's been anything but typical ended in atypical fashion for the Sudbury militia, whose annual march to Concord early Friday morning was affected by the nearby manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect.

Known officially as the Sudbury Companies of Militia and Minute, the group, which each year dresses up in full colonial regalia to reenact the original march on April 19, 1775, was told by local police midway through the event that they could not fire their muskets along the route.

"They were concerned that the gunfire - and it would have sounded like random gunfire - would have aroused the neighbors," said militia member Hal Cutler.

Although the march gets underway early, starting at the First Parish Church in Wayland at 3:45 a.m., the state was already in high alert by dawn as an army of police and federal agents searched for suspected bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev a few towns away in Watertown. Sudbury town historian Lee Swanson, who was ringing the doorbells of participating minutemen on Friday morning, said he had caught some of the news before heading out, but still was perplexed by the odd silence.

"Usually I hear firing," he said. "I was wondering what was going on."

While Swanson said some of the 45 to 50 march participants were slightly "perturbed" they had to skip the customary musket salutes, Cutler said they also understood the circumstances at the time. The militia activities that morning were already tinged by Monday's tragedy, with many minutemen wearing black armbands out of respect.

The group was also allowed to fire a volley at the Concord border - an important symbolic gesture before the march enters Concord, where the musket-fire isn't allowed, Cutler said.

Around 2 p.m., militia members began trickling in at Town Hall, where the company has held a post-march blood drive for the past six years or so. Swanson said 52 people had signed up to donate at the Sudbury Historical Society-sponsored drive, which was scheduled to run until 7 p.m.

"Today, it's really important, especially since these people are coming from towns that are not locked down," he said, referring to the government order that residents of Boston and the surrounding suburbs stay in their homes on Friday.

Although many people injured in Monday's explosions are still being treated at hospitals, the American Red Cross was telling donors on Friday that it did "not anticipate the need for a general blood donor appeal to support our humanitarian efforts in Boston."

The organization was planning to accept previously scheduled donations first, followed by walk-ins with critical blood types.

Scott O'Connell can be reached at 508-626-4449 or soconnell@wickedlocal.com